Nearly finished with the Dungeon Dwellers special from Reaper. Will add a goblet (is that just red wine?) to the base and have a final go at highlights.
The base is thin Cork sheet from The Range (if you are in the UK) layered up. It tears very easily but good for things like this.

I finished up this lovely lady last night. She was wonderfully sculpted by Bob Ridolfi. I really enjoyed the details on her and she was a lot of fun to paint.
I always mean to paint a Halloween figure before Halloween but am usually too busy to actually manage it. I got this figure while at Reapercon though and decided it was meant to be, so I put aside a couple of other things to make time for her.

I had a lot of technical issues with her due to my clumsiness - I dropped her THREE times which resulted in extensive repair work and having to reattach her to the pumpkin each time. There’s no indentation or any other indication for how she’s meant to be attached to the pumpkin and assembly is not my strong suit so I struggled a bit with that part. The way I have her attached leaves her foot hanging past the base by a good bit so I’ll need to build the base up on a little bit of cork, but she looked the most correct to me this way. (She is currently still sitting on top of foam tape and the craft paint bottle that I used as a holder, I just painted them black for pictures.)

I was asked over on facebook how I painted the wings, so I’ll copy that info over here as well:
I basecoated with MSP Black Indigo. (That’s one of this year’s Reapercon swag bag paints. I think Nightmare Black would probably be fine to use in its place.) Then I layered up using paints from Nocturna’s Imperial Purple Set. They’re Vallejo paints made for Nocturna and I highly recommend both that set and the Crimson Red set. Both sets come with little painting guides and the purple one walks you through how to do both cold purples and warm purples. I went in the warm purple direction starting from the darkest colours and layering up to the lightest. So Imperial Purple > Purple Hex > Amethyst > Witch Purple > Lipstick.
Then I glazed over everything with MSP Gothic Crimson which was also a LE Reapercon paint, I think from the 2016 swag bag. (I can’t think of a replacement for that off of the top of my head but it’s a wine-maroon colour.) Then in the areas that I wanted to darken, like the transitions going back into the shadows and the backs of the wings, I glazed with the Black Indigo.

I painted these in August for a D&D encounter but I had to repaint them because the varnish has created a white fume all over the models when I sealed them. It probably happened to many of you as well. It was the third time I wasted painted models because of that undesirable fume without being able to put my finger on the reason why. I think I now know why it happen.

Trick or treat : A true horror story

It was very humid outside that last August. Fortunately, I was lucky enough to shelter myself in the basement while I was speed painting some exquisite Reaper Miniature models. Late that day, as I was done painting a hand full of Undead models, I decided to seal them with that half-full / half-empty "you choose" can of anti shine matt varnish. It's important to mention that I had already used that very same spray can a month earlier.

This being said, after shaking the spray can for a good minute or so, I opened the basement door leading into the backyard. Immediatly, a draft of hot and humid air invaded the doorway and shook my face. I remember swearing when I felt the moisture condensing to beads of sweat on my skin. Without losing a second, wanting to get back to shelter in my man cave, I spray some figurines. In the darkness of the night, everything seemend to be allright under the dim light of the portico.

The day after, I noticed the damage. By a terrible curse, the models I spayed the night before were covered with a thin, powdery layer of white dust. I gazed around looking for sneering Gremlins but saw nothing unusual. Disconcerted, I became aware of the extent of the damage. There has to be a logical explanation behind this ghouly phenomenon.

As much as I like science fiction and horror stories, I had to find a scientific explanation to all this madness. Wasting other models by this evil spell was not an option. I reused the same spay can to make a test. The only parameter that seemed to be different was the fact that it was very humid and hot outside the night before.

I did not want to ruin hours of time spent painting another model to do this test. So, I sprayed a colored cardboard. Furthermore, I made an exception to the sanitary rule and used the spray can inside. The result was surprising. Even though I was using the same spay can, there was no fume this time. Since then, I've been reusing that same spry can on other models whitout any problem.

What happened that draid August night? Was it the imps playing tricks on me or just the excessive difference of temperature and the heavy humidity in the air catched by the aerosol varnish? I will probably never know but one thing is for sure, I will always test my spray can on an expendable object before spraying my art.

As you continue your descent even deeper into the bowels of the earth, you learn that it's not only the huge monsters that are to be feared. While you are sleeping, after your watch shift, a creature drops silently next to you. Without you realizing it, it manages to sting you right on the neck and starts to suck you blood. Sometime later, you woke up with an intense pain on the back of your neck. You realize with disgust what happened. Your wound is infected, and you feel very weak. After examining, your companions realize that you are infected with a serious illness. If you are not treated quickly, you will certainly die within the next few days.